Food security is broad and Khanya-aicdd's focus is on processes rooted in community activity, seeking practical solutions to immediate issues of food security in such a way that they can be scaled up within a relatively short time frame, and have long-term development impacts. We seek to understand the broader food security agenda, while focusing our action on the production of food and natural resources, as well as improving incomes, but not directly on other cash transfer approaches.

In terms of approaches to production Khanya-aicdd focuses on approaches to assist vulnerable people to enable them to use the natural resources at their disposal most effectively to survive shocks and stresses in order to thrive and move on to sustainable and rewarding livelihoods. We seek to work with communities and to adapt or develop approaches and methodologies that can be replicated elsewhere. A critical challenge in many countries is the lack of the set of support systems required (credit, marketing, extension etc).

Key is the testing and implementation of appropriate methods of extension. Agricultural extension services are the interface between policy and external knowledge, and the locally-specific knowledge and experience of people actively involved in food production as a livelihood strategy. In practice most extension systems have been ineffective, do not reach farmers and are unable to provide value-added information to assist farmers to improve their husbandry. Khanya-aicdd is already engaged in a number of activities looking at testing and scaling up models of community-based extension work.

In addition Khanya seeks to ensure that the agricultural business system as a whole is able to support poor producers to produce for home consumption as well as for sale, so looking in an integrated manner at the need for extension, credit, marketing etc. Khanya is currently looking at projects addressing the potato value-chain in Lesotho. In South Africa land reform is critical, which has not been effective and is needed if a cadre of small farmers is to be developed.

Khanya-aicdd's work on local economic development (LED) focuses more generally on support for income generation. This is discussed elsewhere but clearly LED in rural areas is usually driven by agriculture and natural resources and so there is an overlap in these practices.

Khanya-aicdd offers an analytical framework that situates food security interventions in a sustainable livelihoods approach that is rooted in community participation, as well as an integrated and holistic picture of the agricultural business system. This enables policy makers and implementing agents to more fully understand the character of livelihoods and to better understand how interventions might positively or negatively impact on existing livelihoods strategies. Khanya-aicdd has particular skills is facilitating, modelling and scaling up community-based approaches to development and this can be applied fruitfully to agricultural extension and other mechanisms for the practical realisation of sustained improvements in food security for those who are currently food insecure.